Nottingham Forest will be without experienced striker Daryl Murphy when they head to face table-topping Wolves this weekend.

And the Irish international is also facing a fight to be fit for the FA Cup fourth round clash at Hull, beyond that.

Murphy, 34, suffered a rib/back injury during the 1-0 defeat against Sunderland, which proved to be Mark Warburton’s final game in charge – and has taken longer to shake the problem off than first hoped.

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It was a problem the former Newcastle, Ipswich, Celtic and Sunderland player had initially picked up in training, only for it to flare up again when he suffered a blow to the same area against the Black Cats.

He was sidelined for both of caretaker boss Gary Brazil’s games in charge, against Leeds and Arsenal, before then missing Aitor Karanka’s first game in charge, against Aston Villa, last weekend.

And the new Reds boss expects to be without Murphy – who has scored seven goals in his first 20 Championship starts and one sub appearance, following his move from the north-east in the summer – for at least another week, if not longer.

Jason Cummings scores Nottingham Forest's second goal against Shrewsbury Town in the Carabao Cup (Image: Getty)

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have lost only once at Molineux this season – and have the best home record in the Championship, having won 10 and drawn twice otherwise, with their only defeat coming at the hands of Cardiff, back in August.

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Forest have not scored in their last four Championship games – but will hope that highly-regarded teenage striker Ben Brereton can replicate the rampaging performance he produced against Arsenal in the FA Cup, if he is chosen ahead of Karanka's other forward options that include Tyler Walker, Jamie Ward, Zach Clough and Apostolos Vellios.